EC delayed Guj poll dates under govt pressure: Cong

Surjewala said Modi was trying to turn the tide by giving promises during his Gujarat visit scheduled on Monday.

New Delhi : Congress on Thursday slammed the Modi government for pressurising the Election Commission to defer the Gujarat Assembly elections instead of holding them along with Himachal Pradesh in November.

“Is EC dithering from imposing the model code of conduct in Gujarat to help Modi going to the state on October 16 to announce ‘lubhavne jumle’ (lucrative concoctions)?”, the party’s chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

He demanded that both Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat Assembly elections be held together in November and the model code should be clamped forthwith in the two states.

In a video footage, Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are rattled by the exposure of of the BJP government’s failure in Gujarat for 22 years by Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders and has made the people determined to oust the saffron party from power.

He said Modi was trying to turn the tide by giving promises during his Gujarat visit on Monday but the people are now experienced enough not to be misled by his “jumlas”.

Party sources said it is no secret that Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jogi, a retired Gujarat cadre IAS officer, is very close to Prime Minister Modi and has been credited for success of his ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ campaign.